In Group D of the 2026 FIFA World Cup European Qualifiers, Ukraine narrowly edged out Iceland to secure a place in the European play-offs. This marks Ukraine's sixth appearance in the European play-offs of World Cup qualifying campaigns, having been eliminated on each of their previous five occasions.
Since the introduction of play-offs in the UEFA World Cup qualifiers in 1998, Ukraine have participated in six such tournaments across the subsequent eight European qualifying campaigns (including 1998). Only in 2006 and 2018 did they fail to reach the play-off stage, representing a rather peculiar form of consistency.
In the 2006 UEFA World Cup qualifiers, Ukraine, led by legendary striker Andriy Shevchenko, topped their group ahead of Turkey to secure direct qualification for the World Cup finals. This remains their sole appearance in the tournament to date, where they reached the quarter-finals before being eliminated by eventual champions Italy. In the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Ukraine were drawn in a group with Iceland and Croatia, ultimately finishing third and missing out on the play-offs.
In their six previous appearances in European World Cup play-offs, Ukraine have been eliminated on five occasions. For this European qualifying campaign's play-offs, Ukraine are seeded in Pot 1. The draw ceremony for the European World Cup play-offs will take place in Switzerland at 20:00 Beijing time today.